Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1576
Chapter 1576: The Attack (Part 2)
When Safa mentioned that something felt off, the others began to realize it as well. Although they had been the ones to launch the assault, everything about this encounter felt strangely orchestrated.
“You’re right,” Liam said slowly, scanning the aftermath of the clash. “All of them, their members were already lined up, hands pointed right at us the moment we arrived. Did they know we were coming?”
“They shouldn’t have known anything,” Dame replied, his tone wary. “The information we used came from the public and our inside sources, but none of it was detailed enough for them to predict this. Unless…” He paused, eyes narrowing. “Unless they’ve been standing here like this every single day, waiting for someone to walk into their trap.”
While the others exchanged uncertain glances, Raze crouched down near the remains of the glowing teleportation circle by the elevator. The faint traces of energy still pulsed weakly through the cracked lines of the rune. His sharp eyes followed the pattern, and he immediately recognized the problem.
“They were definitely ready for an attack,” he said after a moment. “Look here, the formation of this circle has been altered. If it were activated normally, it would have taken us to the floor’s entrance. But they moved it, so that it forced us right into the center of the room.”
Safa frowned. “Then it wasn’t luck. Someone planned for us to appear exactly where they wanted.”
“Exactly.” Raze rose to his feet, his expression dark. “As Dame said, no one waits like this without a reason. This wasn’t random. They knew we would attack today.”
The realization made everyone tense. Liam’s hands clenched around his sword, while Safa’s wings of light flickered faintly as her nerves rose.
“We should check the other locations,” Raze said firmly. “If this wasn’t coincidence, then the others might be walking into the same setup right now.”
The group exchanged grim looks before moving. Their nearest allied team was Alen’s, and Raze could only hope they weren’t in the same danger.
At Alen’s position, things had gone almost too well. Their target was a Guild House under the Cerebus Guild’s ownership, disguised as an independent branch. Alen and his men approached under the guise of official military authority, using their credentials to gain entry.
The moment they stepped inside, the Guild members began to panic. Within minutes, they broke, terrified of being caught in association with the now-disgraced Cerebus Guild. Some even betrayed their own allies, revealing the location of the hidden operatives.
The battle that followed was swift and brutal. Despite the resistance, Alen’s men fought with discipline and precision, cutting down their targets while minimizing casualties. A few soldiers still perished, their bodies carried away by comrades who refused to leave anyone behind, but compared to the chaos at the facility weeks earlier, this was a clean victory.
They had burned through enchanted barriers, destroyed vaults, and purged the building of every trace of the Cerebus Guild. Yet even in triumph, Alen couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling gnawing at the back of his mind. The ease of their success, it didn’t feel right.
But if Alen’s battle was unsettling, Harvey’s was disastrous.
The Dark Guild’s target was a massive industrial factory owned by Gizin, one of the central sources of enchanted tools the Guild used to fund its operations. For days, the building had been surrounded by protesters furious with the Grand Magus, chanting for reform and vengeance.
When the workers fled and the protests faded, the site fell eerily quiet. It seemed abandoned, perfect for hiding high-ranking members of the Cerebus Guild.
The moment Harvey’s forces crossed the perimeter, however, dozens of runes flared to life. Magical turrets rose from hidden housings along the rooftops, unleashing a barrage of golden light. Energy bolts rained down like burning comets, tearing through shields and armor.
“Scatter!” Harvey roared, throwing up a wall of shadow. It blocked the first few blasts, but each impact shook the ground. The Dark Guild’s mages retaliated, countering with curses and shadow tendrils, yet every attack was met by powerful waves of radiant healing. The enemy’s wounds closed faster than they could be inflicted.
The fight turned into a desperate struggle for survival. Every corridor, every hallway of the factory was a death trap. Magic circles erupted from the floor, flooding the battlefield with explosions of light.
Harvey moved like a storm among them, his Shadow Puppet twisting behind him, tearing through the glowing constructs and devouring the very light from the air. But even his immense power couldn’t turn the tide easily.
One by one, his soldiers fell.
Every time a Dark Mage dropped, Harvey’s anger grew. His voice echoed like thunder, his shadow extending across the ground, dragging enemies into the darkness. “Keep fighting!” he shouted, but even his own voice began to falter under the weight of the slaughter.
Hours later, when the final light spell dimmed and silence spread across the broken factory floor, only ashes remained.
Of the two hundred who had entered the fight, less than a hundred remained standing. The rest were gone, consumed by the blaze, disintegrated by holy light, or buried beneath the collapsed structure.
Harvey stood in the ruins, his chest heaving. The smell of burnt stone and blood clung to the air. Around him, the survivors were tending to their wounded, silent and hollow-eyed.
He looked down at the shattered sigils carved into the earth, runes placed precisely, waiting for them. Too many to be coincidence.
“What happened?” he whispered, his voice shaking. “Everything was prepared… our scouts, our timing, everything.”
He clenched his fists, his knuckles whitening as rage began to burn in his chest. “No… the way they fought, the way every circle was set up, this was deliberate.”
He raised his head, eyes glowing faintly with shadow.
“They were ready for us.”
His voice grew darker, filled with venom and certainty.
“There’s only one explanation left.”
A heavy silence filled the ruined factory. The surviving mages stopped moving, watching their leader as his shadow writhed beneath him, swirling like smoke.
“We were betrayed.”
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